This story has been updated.
BAILEYTON – When Parkside School teachers Jacy Douglas and Tracey Jones decided to decorate their classrooms in Hogwarts themes from the "Harry Potter" series, they probably weren’t counting on receiving national, and even international, attention for their efforts. But they have. On Thursday morning, NBC’s "Today Show" will travel to the school to meet the two and other faculty members who transformed a middle school hallway into a Potterhead’s dreamland, and Cullman County Schools Superintendent Dr. Shane Barnette has confirmed Warner Bros. personnel will also be on hand to promote the Harry Potter prequel “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”
Barnette told The Tribune, “(Author) J.K. Rowling is the one that’s kind of pushed to include Parkside in the publicity promotional stops for the new movie. Then the Today Show and Warner Bros. crew is supposed to be with them."
Barnette continued, “I don’t think we have a list of who all’s coming."
Parkside will hold an assembly with "Today Show" and “Grindelwald” crew in its gym at 10 a.m. Thursday, followed by interviews in the decorated classrooms. The county system has taken the extraordinary step of inviting the public to attend, with a special emphasis on Parkside families and former Parkside students. The Cullman County Sheriff’s Office will be on hand to provide security.
“Everybody’s invited,” said Barnette, “but, of course, that gym only holds so many people. So, as it fills up, you know, there may be people turned away.”
Beyond the paint
Barnette told The Tribune, “We are excited for Parkside. They’ve gotten a lot of attention because of the way they’ve decorated their halls and painted their classrooms, but that’s just a small part of the great things that are going on at Parkside. They also won an award for reading scores, and just this year, they also achieved a Lighthouse Blue Ribbon status. So there’s a lot of great things going on there, and it’s reflective of great leadership by Mr. (Richard) Orr and the wonderful teachers, faculty and staff that are there at the campus, as well.”
He continued, "Parkside has gotten a lot of publicity because of their halls and classroom decorations that have transformed their school. Their 'Harry Potter' hall and classrooms have caught the attention of J.K. Rowling and she has pushed for their school to be a promotional stop for her new movie 'Fantastic Beasts-The Crimes of Grindelwald,' coming out in a couple of weeks. Thursday, 'The Today Show' will be filming the whole assembly and all the interviews."
Said Barnette, "Parkside has been accomplishing some great things along with the attention that they are receiving from the decorations, the school established "Houses" that students are divided into to work as teams to accomplish goals, the school was recently named a Lighthouse Blue Ribbon School of Excellence and also received $20,000 through a State ARI Initiative for its increased reading scores.'The Today Show' and WB want us to invite everyone out to this assembly. Please consider attending this assembly and celebrating the successful accomplishments that the leadership, faculty, and staff are achieving."
"Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" is set to be released on Nov. 16. IMDb describes the movie as "the second installment of the 'Fantastic Beasts' series set in J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World featuring the adventures of magizoologist Newt Scamander."
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Studio
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